


Three times

by King_in_the_North



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21848950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/King_in_the_North/pseuds/King_in_the_North
Summary: The three times Robb and Margaery met each other
Relationships: Robb Stark/Margaery Tyrell
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53





	Three times

They had met three times before they married. Once they had been mere children, the second they were in the bloom of youth and the third…the third encounter was the darkest and lightest of them all.

When he was eleven, Robb came to accompany his father Lord Eddard Stark to Highgarden, capital of the Reach. His father had come at the summons of his friend King Robert along with other Lord Paramounts to act as witness while he received fealty from Lord Mace Tyrell. At eleven, Robb was filled with boundless energy and had convinced his father to take him along on his journey.

As his father went with the other lords to meet with the king, Robb went to explore the beautiful castle. Fate was made the moment Robb crossed the threshold of Highgarden. Robb wandered about the halls of the magnificent palace. Everything was gilded in silver or gold with emblems of flowering roses. He supposed it was all the greenery and flowers that made this palace seem like such a peaceful place, hidden away from the ugliness of the world. Robb breathed freely, breathing in the air saturated with the smell of flowers, he felt calm overtake him. Highgarden was alive with beautiful gardens and serene ponds, there was always the whisper of the Mander's waves reaching his ears.

While walking through the castle he heard the most beautiful music, it entranced him so that he followed it down many corridors and listened outside the door it came from for a goodly time. After years, it seemed, he heard another sound accompany the harp song…crying. Quiet crying. It disturbed him enough that he unceremoniously pushed open the door he'd been listening at to investigate the mournful noise. Inside the room sat a tiny brown-haired girl in a silver-green gown that spread out around her. She could have been one of the marvelous carvings in the walls, to Robb's eyes, she was so delicate and flawless she did not look like a human child.

The girl was startled at his entrance and stopped playing her harp to stare at him, in the same heartbeat her eyes dried up and in her stillness she truly did look like a statue carved by the greatest craftsmen. He did not apologize for intruding, but rather watched her in silence, in awe, for the children up North looked nothing like her. After a moment the girl asked for his name in a voice like a tiny bell, and gave her own for good faith. He knew this must be the youngest child of Lord Mace. She could not have been much older then his own sister, but she had an air about her that seemed to separate her from anyone he had ever met.

Robb complimented her on her music and she resumed playing for him, thus was the rest of their day spent. It was not until the next day that she revealed why she had been crying. Margaery told him how her mother had died the previous month and Robb found himself, silently providing her company and any comfort he could provide.

After a while, in quiet contemplation Margaery said, "I shall never be kissed."

"And why shan't you?" Robb was old enough not to recoil from the word 'kiss' any more.

"I will never love a man, or let any man love me. Too many people get hurt when they love. I don't ever want my heart to hurt again like it did when my mother died."

Considering this for a moment Robb said, "You need not love someone to kiss them…though I think it must help."

"You don't?"

"No."

Margaery sat with her pink cheeked face in pudgy hands and thought hard on Robb's words, her brow wrinkled with the effort.

"How do you know?" She eyed him wearily.

"I don't."

"Then why do you think that?"

Robb thought on how to explain the situation to the young girl but could not gather words. Failing to find the words to convey his thoughts, Robb finally decided action was better than words. With the shamelessness of youth he leaned in and kissed Margaery.

Instead of throwing a fit or making a face at him, Margaery gave a slight smile and said, "You might be right about kissing."

Though Margaery was the same age as his sister, Robb found the difference less obvious and missed his friend when they left a few days later. Many years went by and Robb kissed many more girls, though sometimes the memory of his first kiss at Highgarden would arise and distract him. He thought that it was strange that he now put so much thought into what to say to girls to get them to kiss him, but when he was eleven the most ridiculous of topics worked.

The next time he came to Highgarden with his father he was eighteen. His Lord father had come to discuss trade arrangements with Lord Mace, the North was in need of food supplies in order to prepare for the coming Winter and in return Highgarden would get the best Ironwood harvested from their woods.

Once more Robb was left to explore the palace at his leisure. Once more he was struck by the beauty of the place, a different brand of beauty then his home. Wandering, he wondered how the young Tyrell princess had changed in the last seven years, he wondered how she looked now, wondered if she remembered him.

When he heard singing on a balcony he followed it, hoping that he might stumble upon Margaery as he had years ago. As luck would have it, he found Margaery, her brown curls falling down her back, dressed in yet another magnificent green gown.

"My lady, forgive me, I always seem to intrude on you making music." Robb hoped that Margaery would remember him, when she turned and saw his face it was clear that she did for she exclaimed his name.

She looked very different from the little girl he had kissed long ago. She was a burgeoning beauty, her brown hair and doe eyes, her flawless skin, her perfect figure. He could tell she would break many hearts. They spent the remainder of the day recalling his last visit…at least Margaery was talking. Once more Robb took to studying her, every moment which passed made him wish more powerfully that he had saved kissing her for this meeting.

The day turned into night when Margaery finally came to that kiss.

"I must say, milord, you made quite the impression. I don't quite know why I let you kiss me but I can say that when the stable boy tried to kiss me a month later I hit him in the face."

He laughed with her, trying to picture this demure, fragile looking creature hitting anyone in the face with much success.

"I suppose now you don't hit men in the face for trying to kiss you."

Margaery gave him a devious smile and leaned in to whisper, "No, the secret is to let my brothers do it for me, it works so much better."

With her face a few inches from his, he became painfully aware of how beautiful she was and said, "If that is your play I best warn you that you should call them…now."

With that Robb claimed his second kiss from the princess of Highgarden. Much to his amusement, she neither summoned her brothers or hit him in the face. Instead she kissed him in return. The next few days were a whirlwind of disappearing into niches where they could spend a few moments of undisturbed peace and both were broken hearted when it came time for the Northern party to leave for home.

During the ride back Robb thought about mentioning Margaery to his father and asked if he thought it was plausible for him to marry her? Although his own mother was from the South, she was not from as far south as Margaery was. It hurt Robb's heart to think that he would not be able to provide the comforts Margaery deserved. Maybe in a few years once relations between the Reach and the North flourished from the trade, he would mention it to his parents.

However the next few years were not how Robb had pictured it to be. It all started with his brother crippled, Lord Eddard executed as traitor to the crown, his dear sisters imprisoned in King's Landing and war tore through the realm and Robb found himself proclaimed " King in the North". After joining forces with the Baratheon brothers and the combined armies of the North, the Stormlands, the Riverlands and the Vale, the Lannister usurpation of the crown was finally brought down with the Lannisters executed except Tyrion, Myrcella and Tommen who were sent back to Casterly Rock.

It was very late at night and Robb found himself taking a walk through the castle grounds. He had found his sister healthy but she was no longer the sweet faced girl who would order him to get her new dresses and sweets. She had faced her own hardships within the Lannister's clutches. However she was safe now and Robb would ensure she faced no harm any longer. His other sister was still missing and men had been sent out to every corner of the Realm to look for any news of her.

As he kept walking through the garden, he came across a scene that froze his feet. He saw a brown haired woman in a gleaming silver gown standing under the moonlight. He was so overcome by hope, so surprised; he said her name aloud without stopping to think if it was really her and scared her half to death.

When she saw who it was that called her name, Margaery dried her tears and flung herself into Robb's arms. They walked into the gardens speaking at length. She revealed that her father had brought her to King's Landing with plans of betrothing her to Joffrey. However news of the mighty army coming for the Lannisters had convinced Olenna Tyrell to stall her son, enough time for the betrothal to have never come to be. Margaery wept anew at finally having Robb back with her. She had missed him mightily during the troubling times.

Drawing her close, he tried to make her stop crying for he could not bear her tears, they wrenched at his heart. He was aware of the chaos that had surrounded him in the past years…and yet this night for one moment as he held her seemed perfectly still. He recalled that he had always felt this sense of peace with her, that she was the face in dreams that knew no terror or pain, and he said to her, "For all the misery that has occurred to make me king, something good has come of it. When last I left you I wanted to marry you. Now this unbidden crown shall give me what I most desire: to take you as my bride. I am a king, and I think it is beyond doubt that a crown will satisfy your family but I ask you, you Margaery if you would marry me. With you I knew some brief peace and I would gladly know that peace with you for the rest of my life."

Margaery answered him with a kiss that left no doubt as to her answer. Dawn was still a few hours away and the couple wandered through the Red Keep, hiding in dark niches occasionally as though they were teenagers again.

They found themselves outside Robb's room and he debated for a breath on what to do. However Margaery just smiled at his apprehensive look and walked in holding tightly onto his hand. Come morning the King sat staring at this figure of his lover and he knew deep within, no matter the hardships he face in the future as long as he had Margaery, he would find peace even in the darkest of times.


End file.
